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Monthly Archives: November 2009

Was it good for you?

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Check the date. Yeah. Today is Wednesday, November 4. Uh huh. Perhaps you don’t recall, but my book was due November 1. I may have mentioned that a couple of times.

About now you’ve clicked away or else are glued to your screen wondering what happened.

Did she do it? Was she like Awesome Amanda (who actually turned her book in early? Or was she Merely Mortal Carolyn, turning her book in on time?

Or did something terrible happen involving tearful crying over the phone to her agent?

By the way, The awesome Nalini Singh answers Important Questions over at my blog where you could win one of her books. Please check it out.

Oh, and did you-all remember the time change? Because most of the U.S. had to Fall Back at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday November 1, the day my book was due. To be honest, I didn’t stay up for the big event. No, at 2:00 a.m., I was fast asleep in a sugary dream fueled by a great deal of Halloween candy.

Because, as you must know, the day before November 1 (the day my book was due) is October 31, which is Halloween. Any parent knows that this is one of the Three Big Non-Birthday Occasions no parent dares mess up. Two of the days involve bunnies and reindeer, respectively. Which means, in case you still need coffee, that the day before my book was due, my evening was previously engaged.

Yes, the tension is certainly mounting.

What happened?

We go to my brother’s house for Halloween because we live in the boonies and he lives in an area known for its holiday extravagance. My brother does this awesome haunted house that at key portions of the evening has a line out to the sidewalk.

Anyway, some fool put me in charge of handing out candy. It’s a complicated job involving taste testing, admiring costumes, directing haunted house traffic, advising young kids and teen boys (to mess with their minds) that there is a No Scare version of the Haunted House. There’s a lot of standing involved since we set up a table and a cauldron in front of the house, which means, I’m sure you’ve guessed, that the person handing out the candy (me!) has to keep her strength up by searching out the Whoppers, Baby Ruths and Junior Mints to make sure they taste good.

They did. With every batch. There is also a great deal of skill involved in making it look like you’re giving out gobs of bad-for-your-teeth-sweetie candy while not actually dropping the whole handful into the waiting bag. This is necessary because the kids often come by in batches of 20 or more. And the Haunted House draws them to us like flies. Over 500 kids served!

Here is an actual conversation that took place the night before my book was due.

Me: No, the Haunted House line is over there (pointing boy in correct direction)

Boy dressed as um, something: (He is 8 or 9) Is this where you come out?

Me: No. Nobody comes out of the Haunted House.

BDAUS: Why not?

Me: It’s haunted. A few make it out. Most don’t. (Pointing to large glass jar next to cauldren, which contains floating fingers, eyeballs and shrunken heads) We put the left over bits in here.

BDAUS: Really?

Me: Well, yeah. Were do you think we got all this?

BDAUS: (Eyes get really big)

Me: No. Not really. The line’s over there (pointing). Have some candy and ask for the No Scare version if you’re worried.

As you can see, I am completely perfect for this job.

And I was very relaxed because my book was done.

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Release Day Jitters

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Tomorrow is the official release date for Gallant Officer, Forbidden Lady, even though it seems to be in bookstores already and is available at online bookstores. The ebook version will be released tomorrow (Kindle owners take note!)

It is impossible to know for certain if your book “works” until comments appear, so I’ve been biting my nails a bit in anticipation of the feedback that comes with reader comments and reviews.

I’ve been so lucky that both Judy and Keira gave me mini-reviews in their comments to my blog last Monday. I almost breathed a sigh of relief reading what they had to say. And Judy wrote a lovely review on Amazon, which was very nice of her to do.


Early on I received a 4 star review from RT Book Reviews; that’s always a pleasure.

And yesterday a new review appeared on CataRomance. Debby Guyette calls it “one captivating book.” Yay!!!

But not all is rosy. Two reader reviewers on Amazon gave the book 3 stars, which is disappointing, because one hopes everyone loves the book, even if that is impossible. At least these readers explained their reasoning and listed both positives and negatives, which I appreciate.

Many of my author friends say not to read reviews, not to pay any attention to them. And it is true that I can quote the less enthusiastic lines from my very first and only Publishers Weekly review of The Improper Wife, but I also remember the PW reviewer thought I wrote “sizzling love scenes.” The way I figure it, if I didn’t look for reviews, I wouldn’t see the positive ones, and I wouldn’t know if my book “worked” for anyone.

There is also debate among my friends as to how much people pay attention to reviews. I personally think that they do influence whether or not a person buys a book. I have to admit that I read Amazon reviews before buying a book, unless I know the author or have read something else by that author. I try to assess whether the reviewer has an agenda behind a low review, though. You can mostly tell. And I’m not usually purchasing Romance books when I look at Amazon reviews. I also read RT reviews but typically to see how they’ve assessed friends’ books, not to develop a reading list.

Of course, I no longer feel I’m a typical reader, so it is hard to say how much reviews would affect my book buying habits if I were. Before I was writing in earnest there weren’t as many reviews online and I mostly went on reading “kicks.” Reading all the Dick Francis books at one point; all the Victoria Holt, Bernard Cornwell, Georgette Heyer, Lois McMaster Bujold, any traditional Regency I could find. A book from the Washington Post Book World might have captured my attention, but mostly my choices seemed pretty random or began with a friend’s recommendation.

How do you select a book?

How do reviews influence you? (I’m assuming they do)

Dec 2 I’m blogging with Romance Bandits and giving away a copy of Gallant Officer, Forbidden Lady

Dec 6 I’ll be here at Risky Regencies, also giving away a copy.

Check my website for the complete schedule.

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Thankful

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My son (who’s 10) wrote this in school on Wednesday, and I thought I would share it with you all. Hope everyone who celebrates had a lovely day yesterday, filled with turkey, and pie, and family.

I’m Thankful For Life

I’m thankful for the rivers,

And all the snakes that slither

Through the trees that I’m thankful for also.

I’m thankful for the bugs,

The wasps, and the slugs,

And I don’t care if they’re gross or slimy.

I’ll make friends with a frog,

Or a serpent in the bog,

And it doesn’t matter if it’s grimy.

I’m thankful for the monkeys

And the lions that are funky

That live in the shiny Savannah,

And when the gibbons swing inters

The look at the chimpanzees,

Eating their yellow bananas.

I’m thankful for the skunks,

And the grey and black punks,

Who are usually known as raccoons.

And the mice who eat rice, and the rats who have lice,

And the capybaras who eat lemon-flavored macaroons.

I’m thankful for fish,

That flip and swish,

In the water and squirt and swim,

And the squids and sharks,

And the seals that bark,

And the swordfish that’s surprisingly thin.

I’m thankful for chickens and ducks,

And pigs, who flop in the much,

And the cows, who always say moo.

I like the horses and mules,

Who make all the rules,

I appreciate the brown turkeys, too.

I’m thankful for mountains,

And volcanoes that spew,

And I even like cells,

And viruses, too.

Parasites are coo,

And crabs ain’t no fool,

And I love all the salmon

In their little school.

I adore kittycats,

And tortoises that are fat,

And I’m thankful for anything that’s living.

Especially my family, and I hope

That everything

In this planet has

A marvelous Thanksgiving.

Me, too.

Megan

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Happy Thanksgiving, it’s The End!

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No, not an early post for Thanksgiving according to the Mayan calendar.

I finished, sort of, my book called … well, it doesn’t actually have a name yet but it’s about Jane Austen in Bath, vampires and a French invasion, with guest appearances by the Prince of Wales (later the Prince Regent), Beau Brummell, and Colonel Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington). Guess which one is a vampire. Coming from HarperCollins in fall (?) 2010.

So on Monday night I left work early and went home with my head stuffed full of the last three thousand words or so and started to write.

First phone call: from a worthy organization I told to take my name off their call list.

Phone call #2: daughter wanted to borrow my pretty pie dish (she is the official Thanksgiving pie maker) and I told her it was cracked, probably not a good idea.

Phone call #3: the person who had kindly invited me to attend the local Jane Austen Society birthday event as her guest. This necessitated me making a call to find out what day a possibly conflicting event was on–I am such a social butterfly–and finding out that I could attend neither the Austen event or event #3 that I really wanted to go to.

Phone call #4: from a worthy organization who hung up before I answered.

Phone call #5: my daughter again, asking if it was ok to ask our hosts if she could bring the office Thanksgiving orphan (there’s always one) and I said yes, good idea.

Somehow, fielding more phone calls than I usually get in a week, I got to the point where I typed THE END. Yeehah.

Frantic editing and fact checking will follow and then straight into the next book. But I celebrated the end the next day by going to see the Pennsylvania Ballet’s Nutcracker at the Kennedy Center, a last minute invite from my daughter the pie baker. Lots of fun!

Happy Thanksgiving, Risky friends (US) and happy Thursday to Risky friends elsewhere!

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The Elephant in the Room

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Our Risky Regencies blog is not really the place to discuss Harlequin’s recent announcement that they were adding a vanity press component targetted specifically to writers who aspire to write for Harlequin. If any of you are not aware of the issue, Keira amassed a great list of sites discussing it on her blog Cognitations and Meditation.

I’ve been consumed by this issue since its announcement, so there’s no way I could blog today without mentioning it. As a Harlequin Historical author, I was particularly upset about this venture’s name (Harlequin Horizons–now withdrawn by Harlequin) and its double H logo, because it was distressingly similar to Harlequin Historicals logo. This article was posted by the New Yorker, using a Harlequin Historical cover to illustrate, rather proving the point. If you follow the comments, mine is the one asking the writer to remove the cover. She did and she apologized.

I’m in total support of Romance Writers of America’s immediate and tough stance, even though the consequences of the position will affect Harlequin authors like me.

So…. Since we’re talking about elephants, let me mention that you might be able to find my December Harlequin book, Gallant Officer, Forbidden Lady, in bookstores this week. If you can’t find it, ask for it, especially in a Barnes & Noble, where it may be shelved after the Zs in the single title romances. Check out my website and its new content, including Gallant Officer, Forbidden Lady’s Behind the Book which should be posted today.

How do elephants relate to my December book and the Risky Regencies blog?

Well, the hero and heroine of Gallant Officer, Forbidden Lady visit The Egyptian Hall, Bullock’s Museum in Piccadilly. Opened in 1812, it contained William Bullock’s collection of artifacts, including display after display of “stuffed” animals. You can see in this engraving that there is a “stuffed” elephant on display. Napoleon’s carriage, captured at Waterloo, was also exhibited and was very much a success.

Georgette Heyer’s Cotillion and Arabella include visits to the Egyptian Hall. Do you remember this scene from Cotillion?

Enlightenment dawned on Miss Charing. She gave an irrepressible gurgle of mirth. “Oh, Freddy, is that what brings you here?”

“Yes, it is, and it ain’t anything to laugh at!” said Freddy. “Good God, you don’t suppose I’d come to a place like this for no reason, do you? I’d as lief visit Westminster Abbey again!” He levelled his glass, and swept a condemnatory glance round the room. “In fact, liefer!” he added. “I don’t say those effigies weren’t pretty devilish, but they weren’t as devilish as this freak you was staring at when I came in. You know what? – you’ll start having nightmares if you don’t take care! Lord, if it ain’t just like Dolph to choose a place like this for his dashed flirtations! Shows you he’s queer in his attic.”

“He did not bring me here to flirt with me!”

“Now, don’t you tell me he wanted to look at curiosities from the South Seas!” said Freddy warningly. “I ain’t a big enough bleater to swallow that one! Just a trifle too loud, Kit!”

“No, of course he did not. Oh, dear, how awkward this is! I wonder what I should do?”

“Well, I can tell you that!” said Freddy. “You can stop making a cake of me. What’s more, if you let Dolph go on hanging round you for ever I’ll tell everyone that our betrothal is a hum!”

Ah, there’s nothing like Georgette Heyer’s voice!

What’s your favorite Heyer? You know, the one you reread when you need a soothing escape?

(I think I’ll go reread Venetia)

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